Business Coach : Choose To Be Successful
-So how did you first– because a lot of people, if you’re watching this– I know a lot of people watching this might not know this. You were the man who helped– you’re one of the guys who helped take the StairMaster, which was a product that really was selling, and helped to market that. Along with help from a business coach.
You got a commission agreement to market that all over the country, ultimately. Had three years– you had three years of rejections before you ultimately had some success with your business coach. And you sold– you guys sold millions of StairMasters.
-Well, you know, there were tons of StairMasters. So there’s no doubt about that. And, uh, again it goes back to the opportunity. It goes back to the mindset that allows you to even hear the opportunity.
-How did you first hear about the StairMaster?
-I was at another meeting. It had nothing to do with StairMaster. I mean, it had all to do with StairMaster but nothing to with me.
-So, like a lunch meeting? Was it– what kind of meeting?
-It was a business meeting. And people were just talking. And I was sitting at one end of the table. I clearly remember it.
And they were talking about this company that was located in Tulsa, Oklahoma– North Tulsa, where I was living at the time. And still live here. And they said that this company was not doing well and didn’t know if it was going to make it or not.
And I heard aerobic exercise. I heard getting your heart rate up. I said, these sound like good things. This company shouldn’t fail. So I found a way to get out there to meet them and start talking to them.
-You thought these are good things. This company should not fail. Oh, I should start selling.
-I said, I want to be part of this.
-You heard there’s a school for banking. I should be–I should go there.
-Right.
-You heard St. Louis. I’ll go there. Uh, military? I’ll do that. You just do it! You just do.
You decide, right? And then you’re just, bam! You’re hopping in.
-It is that since of expectancy. It’s that going back again, wanting to be successful, haven’t really caught that, but not quite knowing how it would look.
But because I was so focused on being successful, I think I created this attention to opportunity. I really listened for opportunity. I looked for opportunity.
-So did you pick up the phone and just go [IMITATES BUTTONS BEEPING] and call them? Hey, StairMaster guys, I hear you’re struggling. I would like to sell your product. Pay me, please.
I mean, how did you– what did you say? How did you make that connection?
-You know, I did some research, obviously, to find out about. Read the newspaper articles. There wasn’t much to read about it at the time.
But they were at a point that any good news was good news. And I came in. I said, “I can sell this to the federal government all over the country.” That’s what I said.
-You said that?
-I said that.
-Had you ever sold something to the federal government before?
-Not one day in my life.
-OK. But you felt like you could do it?
-I felt like I could.
-And you told him you could.
-I told them that I could.
-OK. So then you did– you said I’m going to sell it. And then they say to you– who’s they? You’re talking to the head of the company?
-Yeah, I’m talking to the three guys that owned the company.
-You cold called them. You pick up the phone and you called them?
-I went out there to see them. I did not call them. I went out there.
-You went on–oh, you went out there. So you go out there. And what are the terms of this agreement, my friend? What were the terms that you negotiated? Like, do you get paid every time they sold one? Was in a com–
-I got– I got paid on a monthly basis.
-Commission?
-Yeah.
-Only?
-Only. Only commission.
-And for three years– 36 months or longer, somewhere in that range– you worked without a single check.
-Right. They didn’t give me any money.
-Because you handn’t sold–
-They didn’t have the money!
-And you spent– I mean, I’m just making up a number. But you probably spent 20-30 hours a week.
-Well, I had another job.
-Another job. So you’re working 40 hours a week at this job?
-And then 40 hours a week at the other job.
-80 hours a week. You’re working 80 hours a week for three years with no extra pay for this extra time.
-No extra pay for the extra time.
-We have a girl on our camera crew, which– I don’t know if we have her release but we don’t care. This is Arielle.
She does a lot of neat things with marketing for us. And I think this week we had two big successes, is that right? We had two big successes this week.
And I don’t know the number of hours– maybe you could just hold up your fingers– how many hours you had spent before you had any success. Like, 10, 10, 10? I–well, yeah, I was saying.
So she’s spent hours and hours and hours and hours and hours just building relationships. Nothing, nothing, nothing and boom! Two this week. I couldn’t be more proud of her. It’s unbelievable.
But it seems like that’s how success works.
-Yeah. It is not something that just comes and knock on your door. You go out walking. You go out looking with your eyes open, your heart open, and your mind to embrace the opportunity. And you’ll find it may not happen the first day or the second day, but you have to be persistent.
-One of my business coach is a guy named Og Mandino. Old school, back when you would name your kid Og. But with him, his– Og Mandino, his philosophy was that–
If this is like a big oak tree here, his philosophy is that every day you swing. And then you swing and you swing and you swing. And you keep doing it until, eventually, the tree wears down and falls down because you’ve chopped the tree down.
And he says that most people take a blade and they swing and they go, ugh, well the tree didn’t fall down. Well I’ll go to another tree. Swing. To another tree. Swing. In their whole life, they never knock anything down. A business coach can help you knock down your “tree”.
And so he explains that, one, make sure you’re trying to, basically, chop down a tree that worth chopping down. Make sure it’s a big one. If you’re going to invest some time, don’t be, you know, attacking, you know, the little small baby trees all day.
But also understand you have to hit it. And I’m not an ax man. I’m very non-mechanically inclined, but I have done some physical labor and construction when I was starting the business. But I’m– have you ever seen these loggers?
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[SLOW MOTION YELLING]
These big trees, back before the power tools, it took a long time. And it seems like anything– anytime it’s a big tree, it takes a long time.
-Yeah, and that– you know, when you think about success, most people tend to celebrate the end of the journey. And– but I think we have to also understand the journey itself so that we can know what would be expected of us. And we can learn what I– what’s inside the entrepreneur, and thinking so that we can be better prepared to do what we need to do. A business coach will help you be prepared.